-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Chicago tripling the nation's home price growth is the main takeaway from Crain's monthly dip into the real estate data. Chicago's strong housing market when others are weakening is the other side of the coin from the 2010s, when local home prices here grew at about half the speed of the nation's.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Chicago is quite affordable compared to other major cities. Even with everyone moving out of the state, demand remains steady and prices continue to rise despite all the people telling you the sky is falling. Chicago’s death has been greatly exaggerated.
Home prices are rising at more anemic rates than they had been. That Chicago’s are rising faster would have been a prize six years ago but is less so now. With every utterance by your dear leader, JB the Hutt, 50 more Illinoisans leave for saner locales.
Outrageous housing prices do not a good city make. San Francisco, anyone?